Page 5 of Mated in the Stars
“Nope.” Phillip handed her a pair of gloves.
She slipped the pair of heavy-duty gloves onto her hands. “It’s been a bit since I dug through debris, and although I adore being the captain of our small crew,” Sara’s voice turned nostalgic. “I miss being down here finding something worth selling at a salvage yard.”
“Well, you’re welcome any time.” Mark pitched in with a broad smile from where he knelt near a pile of debris.
One of their shuttles glided through the force field, depositing a large mound of debris in the cargo hold with a soft thud as the metal tumbled onto itself. Once the shuttle withdrew, the crew surged forward to begin the process of digging through the pile, searching for any technology that could be resold or any valuable metals.
Sara moved quickly, her trained gaze scanning each piece. She knew exactly what held worth-the gleaming case of a capacitor, or the intricate circuity of a power core. Soon, another shuttle arrived, deposited a fresh load of debris before zipping back out to collect more. Their small, well-oiled team worked seamlessly, the perfect scavenger crew.
Hours passed, the crew in the cargo bay continued to sift through the debris, while the crew on the bridge monitored for any other approaching ships.
“Definitely a warship.” Phillip announced, kicking aside the fragment of a plasma gun casing with the toe of his boot. “Look at the size of it. This ship would have had the fire power to destroy almost anything. And yet, something else took it out.”
“Must’ve been one heck of a firefight.” Mark shook his head. “This thing is massive. I’d guess at least twice the size of our ship.”
“With the Sri’thaen war, I think we should all get ready to see more warship debris fields.” Sara said as she hefted a large chunk of hull out of the way and tossed it to the side. Underneath she found an unharmed coil. That would give them quite a few credits. “Phillip, help me lift this thing.” She said as she crouched down next to it.
Phillip rushed over and whistled softly. “Nice find. Looks valuable.”
Each of them grabbed onto the end of the coil, their knees bent as they lifted the coil, with effort. Despite its deceptively small size, the coil was dense, almost like a solid tube of lead, impossible for one person to lift alone. They carefully carried it over to the growing keep pile.
Once they placed it down, Sara smiled at Phillip before clapping him on the back with a gloved hand. “If we can find just one more of those, it’ll make this whole debris field worth it.”
“Let’s keep sifting through these heaps then.” Phillip smiled back, the excitement of their find contagious.
Several more hours passed, and eventually the crew manning the shuttles had to stop collecting junk and come back to help with sifting through the debris. There was no room at current to bring any more of it onboard.
Taking a small break, Sara walked over to a folding table Bridget had brought down and set up with some food. A simple but welcome spread after so much hard work.
Reaching for the comm panel, she hailed the bridge, “Any sign of other ships yet, Berg?”
“Nothing yet, Captain.” Berg replied. “Things have been quiet up here. Why? Got a funny feeling?”
“Not particularly.” Sara frowned as she watched her crew continuing to sift through everything. “We have a lot of stuff in our cargo bay. I just want to make sure we have enough time to ditch it if another ship suddenly drops out of subspace and surprises us. We won’t get far laden down with this much debris.”
“Let me know what you want to do.” Berg said, always ready to stand beside her decisions.
“We found one coil. I say if we find another, we ditch everything else and move on. Too much time spent here means that we run the risk of another ship finding us, and we don’t have the firepower for a fight.”
“Let me know.” Berg responded.
Sara ended the call, picked up cup of water and took a swig, and then-jerked-spilling some of her water on herself. The Vrak’rir’s hollering carried through the ship, blasting their ears. Damn the big blue alien. She glanced down her shirt where the water had dribbled down the front. With a sigh and a roll of her eyes, she placed her cup down. So much for a peaceful break.
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"Fucker better shut his mouth or I'll go down there with a plasma pistol and shut him up myself." Cat growled betweenclenched teeth, her voice barely containing the venom boiling up inside her.
Sara understood Cat’s simmering frustration with their new guest. This Vrak'rir had been causing quite the racket since they'd picked him up with his banging and hollering. He’d made it his personal mission to annoy the hell out of them, and so far, he was succeeding spectacularly.
"Ignore him." Sara sighed. The only one who seemed to have a grasp on her inner calm. "No blasting a possible credit bank. Whoever blew that ship might want him dead, but I’m guessing they’d prefer to do it. He might be worth more alive than dead."
"Could have been a grunt that no one cares about." Cat grumbled.
"True,” Sara nodded her head lightly as she agreed, “but until we find out, we keep him alive. Agreed?"
"Agreed." Berg said from his console, not even looking up, but listening all the same.
Cat shot him a glance, a mischievous smirk tugging at the corners of her lips. "As long as you promise I get to shoot him if he turns out to be worthless.”
